The repercussions of a flashing nozzle
My heating oil ran out yesterday.
Well, not quite – I have one of those little radio yokes that remotely measures my oil tank level. It's sort of handy when it's pissing rain [like today] as I don't have to go outside.
Anyhows, the little indicator was flashing its nozzle at me which indicates that the level is low. The next phase is for it to shrill an alarm and I want to avoid that as it's a piercing racket.
So I phoned the oil people and that's sorted. Delivery on Monday. I was holding out until this month anyway as the funds were low. The oil will make a bit of a dent in the reserves but fuckit, it can be chilly these nights.
An hour later I got an email from the insurance people. My car insurance is due this month. FUCK!
I went into one of those price comparison things for the laugh, put in my details and it came up with a load of quotes from different companies. The cheapest was the crowd I'm already with so that was fine, except that they quoted a higher figure than was in the email. I think I'll stick with the email.
This morning I decided to investigate the finances to see how I could cope with the oil and the car insurance on my fixed income. Anyway I had to shove some cash into the old plastic to stop any penalties.
Fuck me but there wasn't as much in my account as there should have been. The old pension had been paid in at the end of the month but it seemed to be somewhat leaner than I remembered from previous months.
I unearthed the payslip from the pile of junk in the "office" [junk room] and actually managed to find one that was a couple of months old as well. I compared the two.
The jaw dropped.
The cunts have cut my pension! Not only have they cut my pension but they are charging a shit load of extra tax on it!
What the fuck?
Of course I discover this on a Saturday morning when all the offices are shut, so I have to wait until Monday before phoning them and if they don't have an absolutely excellent reason for diddling me then I can guarantee that blood will flow.
In the meantime I reckon I'm out of pocket by about twenty pints of stout a month.
That is NOT on!
The old pension had been paid in at the end of the month but it seemed to be somewhat leaner than I remembered from previous months.
I feel your pain…abit anyways…the 'month longer than the money' or 'the Baked Beans Week' pain and I too live on a fixed income or 'benefits' (I care for The Bestes But Disabled Frau In The World fulltime). But at the moment our current state of penury is actually our annualish 'Save For The Foreign Holiday' austerity drive, although truth be told since the Pubs & Cafes decided they didn't want my money and my liver threatened to leave with my lover money hasn't been anywhere near as tight as it once was and life on Benefits Street almost embarrassingly comfortable. The holiday itself is already paid for but i want lots of spending cash to buy in Germanic kiddy stuff for Granddaughter 2 and several kilos of a Teutonic Heritage tobacco which the seller won't ship to the UK (I will also shred it in Germany as not to run foul of the HMRC).
But all that aside I am still feeling a teensy weensy bit hard done by as I sit here sipping my Tesco Everyday Value 'Coffee' before 'cooking' tonight's dinner of Lidl's Spaghetti with Tesco Everydaze 'carbonara' sauce , washed down with Tesco's (other supermarkets are available) Everyday Value 10p a litre sparkling tap water….
Too many memories of a 'Red Label' 70s childhood for comfort or how life used to be before the Brits discovered food didn't actually have to be grey nor taste of cardigans.
What pisses me off most of all is that there was no warning. If I had known they were suddenly going to give me less I could have budgeted by paying fewer bills. It's going to be a relatively pricey year here and already the prospects of a week or two away are slipping fast. Leastwise the next few bills are going in the bin, and they can call in the receivers if they wish [good luck to 'em].
You notice this is all happening while Ireland is in "full recovery", business is "booming" and we are the Glory Boys of the EU and the IMF? We keep hearing of Ireland's "remarkable recovery" but on the ground prices are still rising while income remains static [or reducing], the homeless problem is out of control and the health service has almost completely collapsed.
This place pisses me off sometimes.
Good luck with getting anywhere with your pension. I. Have spent three months trying to sort mine out, I got a very small increase in January as expected since they changed from RPI to CPI, it seems they could do that, it's in the small print as usual. In February they took the small increase back with no explanation, first phone call. March pension was paid at the same rate as last year, second phone call again promised a letter explaining all. April pension the same so third phone call and a 26 minute wait to get an answer. Letter promised again by 8 – 10 April, we shall see. It's not the amount but the lack of information but at least they didn't reduce it from last year.
I get two pensions – one off the state and one off my old firm. It's the latter that has tweaked so at least I am spared the brain-numbing experience of phoning the state. The old firm isn't too bad when it comes to being helpful and they at least aren't going to run me around the country. Doubtless they'll have some explanation, but I would like to know if this is a temporary glitch or a permanent thing.
''Twenty pints of stout''.Not sure what a pint costs in Ireland but I do know how much it costs in New Zealand after a trip to the local pub last night. A pint of Guinness set me back $10 (about 5 pounds).It was a bit of a shock as I haven't been to a pub for about 6 months. No wonder we were the only customers at 8pm on a Saturday night. The average Kiwi can't afford a night in the local. How the pub remains viable is beyond me. So after two pints I retreated to my hovel to binge on cheap supermarket lager.
You're not far off on the price of a pint. I remember back in the early seventies swearing that I would never touch another pint if they pushed the price over 2/6 [about fifteen cents?]. Hah!
Since it's your old firm then it's probably alright to yell at them and call them all sorts of horrible names I suppose–if needed of course. On the other hand, you could yell and insult the state all you want and all you'll get out of it is a good work out of the heart and lungs and probably a bout of high blood pressure as well.
Perhaps they think you passed on?
There's no fear of them thinking I have snuffed it. They send me a form every year where I have to declare I'm still alive. I suppose it's sort of a "dead man's handle"?
Yes I get one of these every year too, did you get anywhere with your pension query? I am still waiting to hear back from my private pension proider.